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This was the topic of a presentation I gave this week at the University of Toronto to a group of students who had just finished their degree courses. I talked about how to track their expenses, save, invest, use credit cards, buy or lease a car and pay for a roof over their heads.

I threw in a suggestion, one just implemented in our household, that adult children choosing to live at home after gradution should pay rent. I’ve heard that some parents bank the rent and give it to their kids later as a down payment on a house purchase.

I mentioned some favourite websites, such as this one for help with banking and credit and this one for help with investing. I also talked about this one for advice on taming cellphone costs.

One of the students had great advice about buying online. When asked for a code to get a discount, go to Red Flag Deals and do a search. You should find one there.

Here’s a comment below from an audience member. She’s a well-known blogger who’s finishing her master’s degree, studying the interface between humans and computers.

2 comments

That odd-sounding statement comes from the Richest Man in Babylon, which Sacha recommends above. Naturally, we think that ALL of what we earn is ours. Upon reflection, we realize that most of what we earn is already committed to rent/mortgage, car payments, etc.

The easiest way to keep our share is by having money taken out of our primary banking account and putting it somewhere less accessible. Out of sight + a bother to access = money that grows.